The World Series of Boxing: 11/19/2010 - 3/18/2011

American middleweight fight between Williams Williams and Charles Watson didn't air in it's entirety but looked like a relatively evenly matched fight. Wasn't the most active fight, but thought Wiliams looked better in the time that I saw, and he won the fight 48-47, 48-47, 49-46. Pat Burns is the coach of Miami, and Williams had sort of a Jermain Taylor-like jab...sturdy punch, used it to pretty good effectiveness.

 

Light heavyweight contest between '08 Olympic silver medalist Kenneth Egan and American Dorian Anthony is pretty competitive through two. Looked like Egan's right hook reached Anthony's chin a few tmies and may hve stunned him once or twice, but Anthony landed some nice lead right hands that caught Egan flush. Egan definitely looks like the slower of the two in this one.

 

Egan was cut over the right eye in the fifth round. Anthony spent a lot of time diving in, made for a sloppy contest and might have led to the cut.

Late in the fifth, Egan caught him coming in with a perfect counter right hook, almost had Anthony out of it.

Fight went the full distance, Egan won 49-46, 49-47, 48-47.

 

Heavyweight contest between Aussie Trent Rawlins and American David Imoesiri...Rawlins is a big, strong heavyweight with some power but throws some really wide, looping power punches. Got credit for a knockdown in the second round, but looked like he missed the punch and got him with his arm pulled Imoesiri down.

Judges scored it a draw, with one favoring Imoesiri 48-46, two others had it 47-47, 47-47.

World Series rules dictate the supervisor name the winnner when there is a draw...and that was determined to be Rawlins.

 

Egan's cut will force him to serve a 45-day medical suspension, so he won't be competing again until next year.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/boxing/2010/1126/egank_miami.html

 

Saw some of this Monday night. Good stuff. No head-gear.

 

The week two match-up between Memphis and Miami featuring Detelin Dalakliev, Raynell Williams, et al. is coming up in a few minutes on Versus.

 

The heavyweight fight between Donovan Dennis and Angelo Buchanan was a mismatch. Didn't show the match in its entirety, but Dennis dominated what they did televise (rounds 1, 4 and 5). Dennis, listed at 6'4, southpaw, didn't have the fastest pair of hands, had a solid repetoire, staggered Buchanan a couple times. Buchanan, significantly shorter, offered very little resistance. Scores: 50-42, 50-45, 49-46.

 

The light heavyweight fight between 2008 Hungarian Olympian Imre Szello and Sijuola Shabazz was entertaining. Szello, 27, isn't the most consistent fighter with his output, but I liked the timing on some of his punches, blunted some of Shabazz's offense with some well-timed jabs, lead rights, etc. Szello had a bad vertical cut opened up by his right eye in the fourth round, but won 50-45, 50-45, 48-47.

 

Middleweight fight between Terrell Gausha and Anthony Campbell is a little ugly to watch. Campbell is the taller, longer-armed guy, but spending a lot of time backing up and tying up. He's also hopping in some of the clinches, got a shoulder to Gausha's chin doing it. Gausha's landed a few good right hands in this fight. Campbell has the faster hands, but throwing quite a few arm punches it looks like, and a lot of punches are to Gausha's gloves.

 

Campbell was a spent fighter in the last round. Was hit with some power punches early, retreated and grappled for the remainder of the round, and lost two points for holding by doing so. Gausha won 49-44, 47-45, 46-46.

 

Bantamweight fight betweeen former 2008 Olympian from Bulgaria Detelin Dalakliev and the Dominican Republic's Luis Miguel Diaz is a good one through one. Dalakliev much taller than Diaz, both keep their hands up and blocked a lot of punches. Diaz's style is actually a little reminiscent of Vasyl Lomachenko's (short fighter, keeps hands up high, moves in and out, fast hands, throws in combination). Dalalkliev landed a couple good rights hands to the body in the first.

 

Diaz slowed down a little bit in the second. Dalakliev showing some real class in the ring that round. Some nice straight punches down the middle, he's hitting some glove, but also getting punches through, and landing some to the body.

 

Dalakliev looked very good, won 49-46, 48-47, 48-47, which seemed a bit close.

According to the schedule, Dalakliev will next fight LA's Fernando Martinez on Sunday...that should be a good one.

 

The last fight of the evening is the lightweight fight between 2008 US Olympian Raynell Williams and the Dominican Republic's 2008 Olympian Roberto Navarro. Navarro started active, but in the middle of the round, the southpaw Williams caught him with a sharp right hook...Navarro stumbled backwards and the ref stepped in for a standing eight. Williams a few punches to the body/chest...George Foreman would've like those.

 

The second round started off in close quarters, both going to the body...Williams spends the first minute of the round just digging in punches to the body. Great action.

 

http://www.worldseriesboxing.com/ne...r-sports-tv-to-air-wsb-exclusively-in-uk.aspx

http://www.premiersports.tv/

 

Really interesting result in the Week 4 match between LA and Memphis...Everton dos Santos, of Brazil, stopped American Raynell Williams in the second round.

Santos landed some big overhand lefts in the third minute of the round that badly hurt Williams, the second of two in particular caused Williams to stumble to the ropes. Santos landed a really nice left-right-left and one or two more punches that brought in the ref for a count. Williams was finished at that point, but the ref decided to let it continue, fortunately it didn't go much further.

Santos now has two TKO's in as many fights.

Both boxers competed in the Beijing Olympics...Santos as a lightweight, Williams as a feather.

 

In an earlier bout Rau'shee Warren won but suffered a signifcant cut arond his right eye.

Starting to see a few southpaws suffer cuts in these fights.

 

I saw some of this on Tele, FC Paris gave IstanBulls a whipping, 4-1 or so.

 

Oubaali-Dursun
http://video.lequipe.fr/video/tous-sports/boxe-wsb-oubaali-vs-dursun/?sig=iLyROoafZOgG

Azzedine-Aydin
http://video.lequipe.fr/video/tous-sports/boxe-wsb-azzedine-vs-aydin/?sig=iLyROoafZOsp

Vastine-Tibukoglu
http://video.lequipe.fr/video/tous-sports/boxe-wsb-vastine-vs-tibukoglu/?sig=iLyROoafZOcH

Kolling-Sep
http://video.lequipe.fr/video/tous-sports/boxe-wsb-sep-vs-kolling/?sig=iLyROoafZOQU

Hrzgovi-Ozbek
http://video.lequipe.fr/video/tous-sports/boxe-wsb-hrgovic-vs-ozbek/?sig=iLyROoafZOb9

 

The WSB telecasts are f'ing miserable with the edited out rounds in the usa telecast english versions. They need to turn these into 2.5 hr shows and show all fights complete. It sort of worse because spanish versions and oz versions are showing missing rounds, but i don't want spanish versions when english versions exist and oz versions aren't sure to exist for all cards.

 

The commentary isn't great either.

 

I distinctly remember watching that and feeling that Kolling had very much gotten the worst of his fight, was shocked when they announced him as the winner. Also, Tibukoglo struck me as a man who shouldn't be allowed into the ring at all. Terribly sloppy little fighter who seemed to get hit with everything.

 

A couple Irish fighters have recently joined the WSB...and more may join them.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/0110/1224287157425.html

 

NPR's got a rather lengthy article on the WSB, which is nearing the end of it's regular season, for anybody interested in it...which, judging from the responses in this thread, there probably aren't many. ::

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/16/134563488/boxings-world-series-tries-to-hook-followers

Boxing's World Series Tries To Hook Followers

 

The overall schedule:

http://www.worldseriesboxing.com/schedule/overall-schedule.aspx

 

I have to admit... I gave this series a chance but was incredibly bored by most of what I saw. I'm all for the future of the sport gaining as much exposure as possible, but never have I felt like I was watching the ammy game at its highest level.

 

You mean you don't think there's enough of the top amateurs participating in it?

 

The final four:

http://www.rte.ie/sport/boxing/2011/0321/worldseriesofboxing_nevinjj.html